Grape & Wine Convention Breaks Records

By
Dan Thesman.
Published Wednesday, February 12th, 2014

The 2014 convention of the state’s wine grape growers and wineries set a record this year with over 2,500 industry stakeholders in attending. The Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers Annual Meeting, Convention, and Tradeshow was held last week in Kennewick at the Three Rivers Convention Center and Toyota Center.

The convention included 16 educational sessions for winery owners, growers, tasting room managers, crop consultants, wine makers, and other industry stakeholders and employees, with some sessions having standing room only. The tradeshow sold out and hosted over 160 booths with vendors from across the nation including everything from barrel makers to falconry.

Another record was broken at the sold-out industry banquet, selling $4,600 in raffle tickets to support the Walter Clore Scholarship Fund. The raffle awarded nine magnum bottles, each donated. The bottles were gathered by the Wine Industry Leadership Development group, a committee of WAWGG.

Also, over 40 students of viticulture, enology, and/or wine business programs from Central Washington University, South Seattle Community College, Walla Walla Community College, Washington State University, Columbia Basin and Yakima Valley Community College volunteered for 55 positions over 270 hours during the convention.